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Look at that, the article got an update. I'll pull back my old comment. This one is now actually up to date.

And now that Valve(as of 12th of may, 2010)have actually confirmed their real intentions with respect to Linux client work, we should all just accept that Valve is not porting any Steam/games to Linux. Until they actually announce a client(if ever)it is logically reasonable to assume the likelyhood of Steam on Linux has not changed irrespective of Micheals bullshit/lies.

You guys are ridiculous. Especially you, the_real_bill. What part of that article is new? That Wine (as is implied) is not supported? That's nothing new. I still haven't seen anything posted that provides proof that Steam is not coming. The reason being? You guys can't prove it.

I'm not saying the "Steam is coming for SURE" people have proved anything either, but (even disregarding Michaels news posts) they definitely have at least some evidence that hints towards a possible release.

I'm sitting on the fence with this one. However, I can understand why the hopefuls want to get excited about it. What I can't understand is why the nay-sayers are trying so hard to crush their dreams. Just so you can say "I told you so"? Really, what possible reason do you people have for denouncing it so vehemently?

I don't think Valve will release Steam for GNU/Linux in the near future. It doesn't seem profitable for them. In fact it seems quite the opposite. I would venture a guess that only about five to ten percent of PC gamers run GNU/Linux or have some interest in running GNU/Linux, and of those five or ten percent, I would guess 95% are willing and do dual-boot with Windows in order to play various games that don't run under Wine. I would also guess the gamers that are stubbornly unwilling to dual-boot with Windows do so because they despise DRM which is quite prevalent in Steam. What we are looking at now is Valve may get some of the five percent of ten percent (in other words some of the 0.5 percent) of gamers as new customers, perhaps purchasing on average $30 worth of new game each month. Meanwhile, Valve now has to hire some new developers and pay them five figure salaries. Also, this could slow down development of new games, further reducing profits. Valve would most likely find this to be a losing venture and end up having to abandon the GNU/Linux version and leave a very sour taste in many people's mouths. These people would then tell all their friends to avoid Steam like it's the plague. I'm sorry to burst everyone's bubble.

What I would like to see and would not be a huge loss to Valve profits-wise would be for Valve to contribute code to Wine so that Steam and all Valve titles run flawlessly under Wine. Not only would this cost Valve very little, but would also slightly increase profits for Valve, improve Wine, allow Steam GNU/Linux users to not have to worry about having the proper versions of system libraries, easily allow Steam to run on any platform that will run Wine, finally allows someone to collect actual good data on the number of GNU/Linux gamers and possibly even allow Steam to run on ReactOS. Valve could even test their titles with each release of Wine and put something in the information in the game description like, "This game has been found to work very well under Wine 1.2; however, this is NOT in any way supported by Valve and Valve makes no guarantee that this game will run at all under Wine. You run this game under Wine at your own risk."

Bottom line: Don't ask valve to port Steam to Linux. Instead ask Valve to contribute code to Wine to allow Steam to run better under Wine. In order to help entice Valve to do this, don't play or purchase any games that don't run well under wine.

I don't think Valve will release Steam for GNU/Linux in the near future. It doesn't seem profitable for them. In fact it seems quite the opposite. I would venture a guess that only about five to ten percent of PC gamers run GNU/Linux or have some interest in running GNU/Linux, and of those five or ten percent, I would guess 95% are willing and do dual-boot with Windows in order to play various games that don't run under Wine. I would also guess the gamers that are stubbornly unwilling to dual-boot with Windows do so because they despise DRM which is quite prevalent in Steam. What we are looking at now is Valve may get some of the five percent of ten percent (in other words some of the 0.5 percent) of gamers as new customers, perhaps purchasing on average $30 worth of new game each month. Meanwhile, Valve now has to hire some new developers and pay them five figure salaries. Also, this could slow down development of new games, further reducing profits. Valve would most likely find this to be a losing venture and end up having to abandon the GNU/Linux version and leave a very sour taste in many people's mouths. These people would then tell all their friends to avoid Steam like it's the plague. I'm sorry to burst everyone's bubble.

What I would like to see and would not be a huge loss to Valve profits-wise would be for Valve to contribute code to Wine so that Steam and all Valve titles run flawlessly under Wine. Not only would this cost Valve very little, but would also slightly increase profits for Valve, improve Wine, allow Steam GNU/Linux users to not have to worry about having the proper versions of system libraries, easily allow Steam to run on any platform that will run Wine, finally allows someone to collect actual good data on the number of GNU/Linux gamers and possibly even allow Steam to run on ReactOS. Valve could even test their titles with each release of Wine and put something in the information in the game description like, "This game has been found to work very well under Wine 1.2; however, this is NOT in any way supported by Valve and Valve makes no guarantee that this game will run at all under Wine. You run this game under Wine at your own risk."

Bottom line: Don't ask valve to port Steam to Linux. Instead ask Valve to contribute code to Wine to allow Steam to run better under Wine. In order to help entice Valve to do this, don't play or purchase any games that don't run well under wine.

I suggest we totally boycott Valve. The indie devs and big AAA houses like id software can't predict the future, but they are far more friendly than Valve. Valve is a business at the end of the day. They won't port Steam to Linux to "feel all warm and fuzzy" inside. Valve don't deserve the steam off our piss, whereas the indies and opensource games deserve more positive attention. We can get by without a DRM infested platform such as Steam. We don't "need" Steam.